Hi all,
Back after the bank holiday (and protracted absence).
I have new objects of lust.
It is a fear of mine that I am going to lose the thousands of files, pictures, mp3s etc. that I have accumulated over the last 10 years of computing. Some of it is complete rubbish of course however much is precious. I am already at risk of losing the video footage of my daughters early years, all recorded on 8mm Pal. Also difficult to retrieve are the pictures taken with the Apple QuickTake camera whose compression algorithm is now obsolete (when I get that working I may offer it as a service for others!)
I need reliable storage and a way of backing up properly. I am going to invest in a couple of things to allow me to achieve this.
Storage
I could of course build myself a server, a low cost option if you don’t use Microsoft software on it, and I have looked closely at doing this. There is an OSS project called FreeNAS which allows a cheap PC to run as a file server for most protocols and have a web management interface. It looks very good. Its the whole reliability thing.
Firstly I want RAID5 (4x250GB drive will yield a handy 750GB of space) so either a RAID card or mobo is needed.
Then a reasonable case, PSU, memory, processor, Drive cage, cables etc. hmm starts to add up for a collection of spare parts that won’t necessarily work together especially with the OSS software.
As an alternative I am looking at a designed for purpose unit called a Infrant ReadyNAS NV. The box has the hotswap RAID5 drives, the web interface, gig ethernet NIC, USB backup function and is low power (which will make the Mrs happy – she always moaned about the servers running up the leccy bill)
It is indeed a wonderful thing. Finacially it is a bit demanding at around £850 but I have secured an interest free loan so I can get it and the next item of lust….
Network
When we moved into my house it was what you would call a fixer-upper. All the walls needed a plaster job, there was no wiring, no water, heating and the bathroom was where the TV is now situated.
Over the years we redeveloped the house as we had money but I have always tried to think ahead. When the walls were being plastered for instance, we put Cat 5 in them at the same time. This bulk wiring propagates our phone and network connections much as a business would use distributed wiring in an office.
At the moment I have two network devices that everything connects to. The first is the Belkin Internet Router which has 4 10/100 Ethernet ports. This device also provides the laptops with 54g wireless and is currently providing wired network for an OfficeJet JetDirect connection. A link from the router (located in the living room downstairs) goes into the wall to the patch panel in the loft to an 8 port 10/100 switch which feeds all the loft devices and the XBox back in the living room.
It is this switch in the loft thats up for replacement.
As the NAS will be Gigabit enabled I am going to get a 16 port gigabit switch from NetGear. It is unmanaged and nothing really special, it doesn’t even do jumbo frames, but it is an affordable 16 port 10/100/1000 switch and will fit nicely into my master plan.
Output
OK, now I am going to have all this nice infrastructure, what should I hang off it?
Since I bought the plasma I have been longing to connect a machine to it. The screen and the surround amp I purchased to go with it are both HD ready and support 720p (at least).
Despite the obvious virtues of the Sony Media centre system, I vowed after the Fujitsu “laptop” and my XDA to never give Bill any more of my hard earned.
It just so happens the new Mac Mini Intel Core Duo can output to HD via its DVI-D connector including all that nasty HDCP stuff, and with a suitable cable with HDMI at the other end, it will connect in a jiffy.
The Mini also happens to have a gigabit ethernet interface and the throughput to handle a gig connection easily. It has a nice little remote control too. The thing was made to be connected to a TV, my TV.
With a DVD writer, the Mini can backup all my nice data files to disk, with a little bit of software, RIPped versions of my DVDs can be played back without my lazy phatarse getting up to change disk. Music will play from the mini via its digital optical output leaving the Amp’s £700 Air Studios tuned circuitry to squeeze every last bit of detail cleanly from the music source and because storage is less of an issue, I feel some re RIPping of my CDs may occur as I adopt a loss-less audio format.
When Apple start their HD movies on demand service I will just press the button and enjoy the experience before HD-DVD or BlueRay get their disagreeable acts together.
So there you have it. In this short entry I have spent my gadget budget for the next two years but I think it will be worth it because as a result our files will be secure, we have a media box to die for and a nice fast network to run it all over.
Now, where did I leave my credit cards?